Where the Big Dogs Loyalties Lie

Ricardo Almeida(Pictures) is a bit of an anachronism
in the rock star culture of today's MMA. In fact, he is part of the
old guard that nostalgically reminds us of MMA's roots in "martial
arts."

His relationship with Renzo
Gracie(Pictures) -- whom he refers to as "maestro"
(or master) -- in particular harks back to a distant, romanticized
era of master and student.

Martin Rooney, who has been Almeida's strength and conditioning
coach for nearly a decade, points to the melee that broke out after
Almeida's victory over Nathan Marquardt(Pictures) in 2003 as a poignant example of
the fierce loyalty that exists between fighter and coach.

"When Ricardo won the King of Pancrase, there was a lot of talk
that week," recalled Rooney. "So when Ricardo had [Marquardt] in
checkmate, he just held that [guillotine] choke a little bit
longer. When he released, Marquardt punched him in the face.
Ricardo later said that it was like in the movies when you have a
devil and an angel on your shoulders. Renzo was the devil jumping
in and kicking Marquardt, and I was the angel coming in and telling
Ricardo not to do anything else."

In return, Almeida has guarded the Gracie name and tradition with a
sense of duty. The name may have lost some luster in the modern MMA
landscape, but there is no denying its historical relevance or
pervasive influence in the sport.

"It's very important," stressed Almeida about upholding the Gracie
legacy. "Every time I step up to compete, I don't want to lose
because I'm representing the whole family of Gracie jiu-jitsu or
Brazilian jiu-jitsu. When I first started training jiu-jitsu in
Brazil, I was like 15 years old -- this was pre-UFC -- and if you
wanted to fight or do a vale tudo fight, you'd get picked to fight.
You just don't want to fight, you get picked. Guys would fight
challenges against luta livre or another kind of martial arts just
to prove that jiu-jitsu was the superior martial art. … I think I
still carry a lot of that old-time mentality of like I'm
representing something a lot bigger than myself."

In keeping with this traditional worldview, Almeida sees the
martial artist not only as a fighter but also a teacher and
philosopher. At his gym in New Jersey, Almeida interacts with
hundreds of students and finds great pleasure in sharing his
knowledge of jiu-jitsu with others.

Almeida's mantra is that jiu-jitsu is not just a sport but a
lifestyle. And this philosophy has often yielded surprising
results.

"I had this guy come to the school," started Almeida. "He's around
50-55 years old and he wasn't sure whether he should enroll or not
because he was a heavy smoker. … I eventually convinced him, and he
started training at the academy. And he quit smoking! And then he
got his son involved at the academy as well. His son was also a
heavy smoker and he quit smoking! And then his wife, who was also a
heavy smoker, she had to stop smoking because the two men of the
house stopped smoking!"

Almeida's philosophy also stems from his passion for surfing, which
he inherited from his father, a semiprofessional. Almeida describes
the experience of surfing as a form of "moving meditation" and
derives profound insights from it -- "you're out there by yourself
and you are your own island" -- that he has applied to jiu-jitsu
and MMA.

"It's very similar to jiu-jitsu and MMA in that the environment is
constantly changing," he elaborated. "In the ocean, the waves come
and they come by and go towards the shore and you got the wind and
the tides changing. But you cannot overpower the ocean. If you try
to overpower the ocean, you die. In MMA, I feel that early in my
career I was trying to overpower my opponents and I wasn't as
successful as I could have been."

Once he learned to let go, Almeida began dominating his opponents
and put together an impressive series of consecutive wins over
notable fighters, including Marquardt and Kazuo Misaki(Pictures). In May 2004, however, he retired
suddenly.

Nearly four years later, he returned this February to face Rob Yundt(Pictures) at UFC 81. The greatest challenge
of Almeida's life came three weeks prior to the bout, though. As a
consummate family man who places his wife and two children above
anything else, Almeida was devastated to learn that his son, Renzo,
was diagnosed with autism. So emotionally distraught, Almeida was
close to abandoning his comeback altogether.

But you cannot overpower the ocean, the waves reminded him.

Today a major reason that Almeida fights is for his son. He wants
to show Renzo that his old man is also "working through the grind
like he is."

"Some things he really wants and some things he doesn't enjoy, but
he has to go through the process regardless like me," quietly
asserted Almeida.

Another factor that motivated Almeida's return was the rising
technical sophistication of MMA. These past few years will perhaps
be looked back on as MMA's renaissance period in terms of the
explosive growth in talent and the number of cards being churned
out.

"I was watching guys like Diego [Sanchez] and [Josh] Koscheck and
even Kenny Florian(Pictures), who was a jiu-jitsu guy
but has great stand-up now as well," said Almeida of the fighters
that impressed him most. "Watching these guys just transition and
push the technical element of the fight to a whole different level,
I didn't want to miss that push."

It's not that Almeida feels the need to add to his legacy, but
simply put he's just itching to know how he would fare in today's
MMA climate.

His bout against rising Canadian middleweight Patrick Cote(Pictures) this Saturday at UFC 86 will
serve to answer many of his questions. But it is no mystery how
this classic grappler-versus-striker match will play out.

While many critics point to Cote's submission loss to Travis Lutter(Pictures) and expect a quick finish for
Almeida if the fight hits the ground, Almeida sees a different
story.

"People don't give Patrick enough credit for his groundwork just
because he got caught by Lutter so quickly," explained Almeida.
"But I think it was more of a mental mistake he made. I actually
think he has solid skills on the ground. He has been steadily
improving and he actually has excellent submission defense, so I
expect it to be tough."

By the same token, Cote supporters cite Almeida's TKO loss to
Andrei Semenov(Pictures) as a portentous
foreshadowing and argue Cote's heavy hands will be too much for the
"Big Dog."

"He's got that one-punch knockout power," Almeida said. "He has
awesome stand-up and he's constantly improving. Before he didn't
used to kick a lot, but now sets up his power shots with
kicks."

But in response he feels Cote's opponents were playing into his
strengths. "He's been knocking out guys that trade punches with
him," Almeida said. "It's like me submitting guys that pull guard.
… I just have to be very aware of what he's trying to do or how
he's trying to set up the big right hand or the big knockout
punch."

In preparation, Almeida has been training with Rooney, who is the
bestselling author of "Training for Warriors: The Ultimate Mixed
Martial Arts Workout." His three-day regimen focuses on building
absolute strength that will be important against a bigger opponent
like Cote and maintaining a high level of conditioning that is
critical at this level of competition.

In a division that is withering in compelling matchups, the
Almeida-Cote fight is extremely important in creating a legitimate
contender to Anderson
Silva's throne and the next great narrative in the
division.

Almeida might not be looking past Cote, but many fans certainly are
-- hoping, perhaps, for a bout between an all-time great in Silva
and a fighter who could become one.